National Basketball Association

Magic musings: Tobias Harris can't recreate winning shot in Toronto

Published Nov. 11, 2014 10:30 p.m. ET

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Tobias Harris, who drained a game-winning jump shot at the buzzer last week for the Orlando Magic, had a great opportunity to come through again with the game on the line Tuesday night at Toronto.

This time, the result and the outcome were different.

Harris had 23 points and 13 rebounds in a game the Magic led the majority of the way. But his pull-up jumper in the lane with 1.9 seconds remaining bounced off the rim, and the Raptors -- after two insurance free throws by Terrence Ross -- came away with a 104-100 victory.

As was the case Sunday in Brooklyn, the Magic found points harder to come by in the fourth quarter. What made this more frustrating, however, was that they led the Raptors 83-72 heading into the final 12 minutes. The Magic hung close down the stretch with the help of two 3-point field goals by Evan Fournier, whose game-high 24 points were three shy of his career best set in February while with the Denver Nuggets. The last of Fournier's four 3-pointers in the contest gave the Magic their final lead at 98-97 with 2:21 remaining.

Channing Frye collected 13 of his 19 points in the first quarter in his best outing since signing with the Magic. Nikola Vucevic finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, with the highlight of his night coming in a sequence during the third quarter when he blocked a 3-point shot by DeMar DeRozan at one end of the floor and scored on a spin move at the other.

Coach Jacque Vaughn went with veteran Luke Ridnour over rookie Elfrid Payton at point guard for the entire fourth quarter. Ridnour handed out six assists and committed just one turnover in a season-high 29 minutes.

THE TURNING POINT

The Raptors tied the score with an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter, including 3s by reserves Lou Williams and Patrick Patterson. The Magic went with a lineup of Frye, Ridnour, Maurice Harkless, Ben Gordon and rookie Aaron Gordon during that time.

THE DIFFERENCE MAKER

Kyle Lowry made up for a 4-of-15 shooting performance from DeRozan by finishing with 19 points, including two free throws with 1:05 remaining.

STAT OF THE GAME

After attempting 48 free throws in Orlando 10 days earlier, the Raptors went 25 of 30 from the line compared to 10 of 16 for the Magic.

WHAT'S NEXT

Wednesday night at New York, 7:30 p.m.

You can follow Ken Hornack on Twitter @HornackFSFla or email him at khornack32176@gmail.com.

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